Weekly ForceCast: January 13, 2012
Daniel Logan saves a life, Rick McCallum reveals the Star Wars underworld, and Clone Wars writers Henry Gilory and Steve Melching join us in the Cantina for a chat about adapting a comic book for the small screen. Plus, Billy Dee and Hutch reunite, G.L. premieres Red Tails in Chicago, and much more. Guests *Steven Melching and Henry Gilroy (writers, TCW Season 1 and the Zygerrian story arc) *Daniel Logan Topics *Jason announces that he, Jimmy, Paul Bateman, Kyle Newman, and Del Rey's Erich Schoeneweiss will be doing a roundtable discussion of the blockbuster new Star Wars novel Darth Plagueis in February. *The hosts present their latest Songify entry, this one based on Jimmy's impression of Yoda clearing his throat and warming up for voicework. *Jason and Jimmy interview the writers of The Clone Wars Season 4's Zygerrian slaver arc, Steven Melching and Henry Gilroy. **They first talk about the process of turning their comic into TV episodes. "This story was written for Season 1," Gilroy says. Unfortunately, the producer of TCW at the time didn't want to show George the scripts, so the story didn't make it into the first season. When Dark Horse asked Gilroy if he had any ideas for comics, he brought them Slaves of the Republic. "George saw the comic book and said, 'Hey, why didn't we do this as a story?'" Gilroy says. The series' next producer, Cary Silver, called up Gilroy and worked with him and Melching to bring the story to Season 4. "Great collaboration all around," Gilroy says. He and Melching then describe how and why certain story elements changed from TV to comic to TV. **The rest of the interview deals with writing for TCW in general (i.e. script length and dialog versus description), the relationship between Anakin and Queen Scintel on Zygerria, and the pair's future projects. Henry Gilroy teases a digest he's writing about Darth Maul, saying, "How does a character...who's been chopped in half survive?" *Billy Dee Quote of the Week **Williams made a cameo on ABC's now-canceled series Man Up as a patient in a hospital. In one clip, his presence at the hospital attracts the attention of one of the show's main characters, who deserts his friend Kenny, played by Dan Fogler of Fanboys fame, to go retrieve an autograph-ready action figure. In the second clip, Kenny discovers that he's sharing a hospital room with Williams. The man who played Lando asks Kenny to join him in reciting dialog from Episode V, which he says helps soothe him. *Headline News **While on an L.A. beach, young Boba Fett actor Daniel Logan saved a six-year-old girl from drowning. "She was caught in the undertow of a huge wave," Logan wrote on his Facebook page. "I am thankful I was there to be of help to the little girl. Something I will never forget." Jason then plays a recorded conversation between Jimmy and Daniel Logan where the actor explains what happened. **In an IGN interview with Rick McCallum, the Star Wars producer let slip the working title of the live-action Star Wars TV series: Star Wars: Underworld. One of the other salient details from the interview was McCallum cautioning eager fans that even a Lucasfilm show would be dependent on ratings. Budget and production issues are still complicating development of the series, which is set in between Episodes III and IV and focuses on the newborn Empire trying to control the galactic underworld. ***"The prequels only cost $100 million each," McCallum says in the interview. "In the world of Hollywood, that is nothing. ... But this series is really tough, because we're trying to do in one hour the same amount of effects and technology in each Prequel ... every week." ***McCallum also says that pitching the show to, say, HBO would involve losing worldwide rights and having to cast certain people as dictated by HBO. That, he says, is not what anyone at Lucasfilm, least of all George Lucas, wants to do. Financing a project like this, he says, will be difficult no matter where they shop the series, be it broadcast or cable. ***McCallum says that, at the scale they're talking about, each episode would cost around $5 million. **George Lucas will appear on Oprah Winfrey's new show, Oprah's Next Chapter, to promote the release of Red Tails, his new movie about the Tuskegee Airmen. Jimmy talks about how Lucas, his girlfriend Mellody Hobson, and the Red Tails cast were in Chicago last Friday for the film's premiere. Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel attended the premiere as well. **In sad news, Bob Anderson passed away on New Year's Day 2012 at the age of 89. Anderson trained Mark Hamill to wield his lightsaber and even played Vader during their duels in the Original Trilogy. Significant quotes *Quotes go here.